anyone see..

[Kiteboarding Tampa Bay]

The reason you disagree is that you are a retailer, all other retailers will say the same thing you did. If you didn't have a stake in the kite biz, you might see the other side of the fence.
Nothing stops retailers from selling them a kite before they're ready. It happens all the time up here, even by non-kiters at the rest stop on the interstate. I kinda see that as a problem....
A skills test or certification card from a non retailer who is independent of the industry solves that problem.
Maybe we could sit down and chat sometime, that would be nice.

[H]

Certification shouldn't be necessary this is America for God's sake.

Cert's would have done nothing to prevent the majority of bad accidents including the ones this week. The riders involved were not newbies and would have been certified anyway if it was necessary.

[bryanleighty]

FYI .. some great news:

the kiter that got hurt in Ft. Lauderdale was released from the hospital..

[b-rad]

Originally Posted by Kiteboarding Tampa Bay

The reason you disagree is that you are a retailer, all other retailers will say the same thing you did. If you didn't have a stake in the kite biz, you might see the other side of the fence.
Nothing stops retailers from selling them a kite before they're ready. It happens all the time up here, even by non-kiters at the rest stop on the interstate. I kinda see that as a problem....
A skills test or certification card from a non retailer who is independent of the industry solves that problem.
Maybe we could sit down and chat sometime, that would be nice.

Nothing stops anyone from selling anything: guns, heavy machinery, chemicals, ultralight aircrafts...that's not the problem!!! I'm kind of tired of some people blaming kite retailers for kite accidents...that's a bunch of crap...

Any retailer selling kites would have "a stake in the biz" and need to sell stuff to keep the lights on...so respectfully, that doesn't make any sense...

It's up to the student to believe his instructor or not...if he lies to try to sell certain gear...then he sucks anyway...that's a whole different issue, and good instructors will prevail in a free society...

And if the cert. you are talking about "is something anyone can do after a few hours of training" then how useful would that be?...because after a few hours of training NOBODY is ready to go buy gear and give it a whirl. So Jonny Newbie gets his cert and goes down the road to the local (non-instructor affiliated retailer) flashes his card and buys whatever he wants with the feeling that he has the green light to fly?! Nonsense...with all due respect...

[noel]

I am going to have to agree with Brad here. WOW!! Did I say that? Anyway. I have been in this buisness for a long time and can say he is 100% right.I know a few shops that you guys all respect greatly that will sell a kite as long as you have cash in hand. I can sell you a car but I don't have to make sure you are a good driver. The shops can only relie on what is said to them. After that it is up to the individual.

After some thinking I agree with brad and noel, it does seem dumb to point the finger at the retailers when it is the person with the kite who makes a bad decision. We can buy a kite just about any where, ebay, ikite.

The person who was hurt in the storm made many mistakes that even a beginner like myself can spot in a short blurry 30 second film.

kite above head when overpowered is one error but riding during a tropical storm is clearly very dumb. As some others pointed out like Steve, Scott and others, coming into shore was probably a mistake in itself because thats where the buildings are. I think testosterone should be banned as us ladies don't have these problems haha.

One thing I don't understand is why everyone including our accident expert is saying this was unavoidable when it looks entirely avoidable by anyone with proper training and common sense?

[bigairal]

yes you are right the accident was completely avoidable